In the prior art, there have been various types of input devices including a joystick and a joypad. Data gloves are known as one of such the input devices.
A data glove receives a user's hand in its pouch-like main body to be used like a glove. For instance, when the data glove is used as an input device for a computer, an image simulating the user's hand is displayed in a virtual space shown on a display. As the user moves the hand wearing the data glove, the data glove inputs information according to the motion to the computer, and the image simulating the hand moves to follow the motion.
A usual means to enter characters is a keyboard. Cellular phones and the like typically employ numeric keypads in place of keyboards.
In the case where a game machine or the like uses a joypad or a joystick to enter characters in a character input area displayed on a display, a picture of a keyboard and a cursor are usually shown on a screen to receive a key input from a user. The user manipulates a four-way scroll key on the joypad or a stick of the joystick to place the cursor on a desired key of the keyboard displayed on the screen, and then presses a button on the joypad or the joystick, thereby determining the pointed key as a key having a desired character, thus the desired character is in the character input area.
In a data glove, a finger bend amount threshold is set for an action of pressing a button, for example. However, in a case where digital data is output when the finger bend amount exceeds the threshold, it is difficult for users to know the amount of finger bend necessary for triggering recognition of the press of a button.
Therefore, in the above-mentioned example, a motion that is perceived by the user as corresponding to the action of “pressing a button” may not trigger the data glove as the press of a button because the finger bend amount is not enough. Thoroughly bending and stretching the fingers can facilitate reliable recognition of the press of a button, but the excess finger movement amount imposes increasing burden on the user, tiring the user more. Also, it is desirable to minimize the finger movement amount when a quick input is needed.
Conventional input devices also have difficulties in meeting such a request that requires simultaneous digital data inputs from the user's five fingers. For instance, when a button is allocated to each of the user's five fingers and the five buttons are to be turned on all at once, it is very difficult for the user to know a finger bend amount that is enough to make the input device recognize that the button is turned on for each finger, and to bend the five fingers simultaneously until a bend amount enough for the recognition of turning on of the button is reached for each finger. In addition, it is difficult to carry out with accuracy such manipulation as bending specific three fingers out of five. Another difficulty in using data gloves and other similar devices is accomplishing a frequently repeated series of actions with a simple manipulation.
Moreover, having a pouch-like main body in which a user's hand is inserted while in use, a usual data glove tends to be large in size in order to accommodate such a main body. Also, since the data glove being constructed for use with the user's hand inserted therein, it takes a considerable amount of time for a user to pick up the data glove and insert his/her hand in the data glove. When a user is to wear data gloves on both hands, in particular, putting a data glove on one hand with the other hand, which is already wearing a data glove is difficult and requires a considerable amount of time. Wearing a data glove also makes it difficult to carry out such actions as manipulating a remote controller for TV and writing down information important to the course of the game that is shown on the display. Putting on and taking off a data glove are particularly cumbersome when the user removes the data glove before taking those actions and puts the data glove back on after finishing the actions.
Entering characters via a joystick, a joypad, or the like, on the other hand, requires a cumbersome, time-consuming manipulation which involves searching over a keyboard displayed on the screen for a desired key, placing the cursor exactly on the desired key, and then pressing the enter button.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an input device and an input method that are easy for users to use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an input device and an input method that are capable of detecting the motion of a user's hand and that are suitable for digital data input.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an input device that can be gripped by a user while in use and that is suitable for digital data input.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide an input device that can quickly be made ready to use without requiring a cumbersome action such as insertion of a user's hand into a pouch-like main body.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide an input device that is more compact in size than conventional data gloves with pouch-like main bodies, and that is capable of detecting the motion of a user's hand.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a character input method and an input device with which characters can easily be entered without the use of a keyboard or a numeric keypad.